ZEUNER Brighton

Preferred stance
Regular (theboardr.com, 06 Mar 2020)

General
YOUNG PRODIGY
Before the age of 16 she had already featured in interviews in major publications such as The New York Times, Vogue, Rolling Stone magazine, as well as dozens of skateboarding and other media outlets. She has been described as a "prodigy" on the X Games website, a favourite to win Olympic gold by Red Bull, and a role model to female skateboarders by numerous publications. Speaking in 2020, she said it was important to separate her fame and the pressure it brings from her life as a teenager, and that the COVID-19 pandemic afforded her time to focus on being a 'normal' teenager. "It's definitely important to have a social life as well as your career and juggling both worlds was kind of stressful when there were so many contests, so right now [2020] I can really take the time to be a teenager and also skate a lot and film and stuff and not have to worry about contests. I think both worlds are equally important. I don't want to go crazy from just training every single day. I've been filming a lot, which is skating but it's just so much different than contest skating, and I'm really enjoying that. I've also been getting really into making music, I got a new guitar for my birthday. Mostly I've just been skating and staying home and having some downtime with my family and friends. I still find [being called a role model] really, really weird because I still look up so many girls that I skate with who are older than me. I still feel like a little kid when I go to the skatepark. I think it's crazy when people say I inspire them to skate because I can name hundreds of girl skaters that have inspired me to skate, so the fact that I'm even close to being that role model for anyone else is crazy to me. I'm so happy that I can be that for a few girls." (dewtour.com, 01 Oct 2020)

FAMILY VERT RAMP
Her family used to have a vert ramp in their backyard in Encinitas, CA, United States of America, which was visited regularly by professional skaters, including Lizzie Armanto and Tony Hawk. "Honestly, when people ask that question I don't really know [why my parents built the ramp]. My brother really wanted a vert ramp and, I don't know, we just kinda had a vert ramp one day. I can't really remember because it was so long ago, but it did help me to progress and meet a bunch of new people." (theberrics.com, 08 Mar 2019; olympicchannel.com, 01 Aug 2018; abcnews.go.com, 16 Jan 2018; highsnobiety.com, 04 Jul 2018)

At the 2017 X Games in Minneapolis, MN, United States of America, she became the youngest X Games gold medallist in history after winning park gold the day after her 13th birthday. She defended her gold medal at the 2018 X Games in Minneapolis, to become the youngest back-to-back gold medallist in X Games history. Prior to that, at age 11, she became the youngest ever female to take part in the X Games. (abcnews.go.com, 16 Jan 2018; xgames.com, 01 Jan 2018)